Bribing Thai traffic cops can get you in trouble

[SCARLETIBIS1]

Offering rewards for making arrests. how could this possibly go wrong?

The logic behind this is the people are corrupt and need to be taught to stop bribing the police.

"Logic" in Thailand? Surely you jest. I have for years tried to figure out why anyone would park their motorbike next to another one so they can't get back on it without pulling out the bike next to it. I thought I had seen it all but yesterday I viewed in pure amazement a Thai parking his bike in the miniscule hole of a spot between two bikes. Nothing new there but the amazing thing was he had to actually stand up on his seat and then frog hop on the bike next to his and then jump to the ground. It was absolutely hilarious. And they want to know why we post this trash making them look all the fools.

[Bluespunk]

Why would citizens think bribes work?

Experience?

[loong]

Was it a Thai or a foreigner on the bike ?

Somehow I just can't imagine a Thai.....

From the article "According to police, the motorcyclist, identified as Banterng Thongpaan, " might give you a clue

[manzan]

Stupid me was thinking this 10,000 was on top of the annual salary - not for every single incident. I will never pay a cop ever again from now on, and demand the correct paperwork and pay the fine thru the post.

unfortunately, as far as i know , we cant pay a fine through the post, whenever i had to pay a fine the correct way, it meant leaving passport/license with the police and going to the station to wait in a que to pay and go back to retrieve your license or bike (if you were unlucky enough not to carry a license or id card) a seriously time consuming affair.

this reward for police officers is outrageous, they are the ones demanding the payment, they are the corrupted ones enriching themselves by extorting the people! now this just becomes an even bigger minefield for the civilians, what is the civilian supposed to do now when the police demands payment, and in a double whammy, it is the civilian at risk for an even bigger fine?!?

the reward should have been offered to the civilian who finds a police man demanding a bribe, which is the case 90% of the time that i have been stopped!

[ingvar]

There is a simple solution to this dilemma, Do not try or be duped into Bribing a Police officer. Better to just play along with the whole ticket thing, take the ticket, go to the police station and do the pay ticket routine at the station. It will cause you to loose time and money, but better that than the risk of getting arrested for bribing a Police officer.

[luk AJ]

There is a simple solution to this dilemma, Do not try or be duped into Bribing a Police officer. Better to just play along with the whole ticket thing, take the ticket, go to the police station and do the pay ticket routine at the station. It will cause you to loose time and money, but better that than the risk of getting arrested for bribing a Police officer.

very clever indeed, so you have no problem driving back next day to Phitsanulok or where ever you were fined??

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[nong38]

Let us hope this one small step forward in the right direction.

[johnnyj]

see if they actually wanted to stop it... they would offer a 10,000 baht bribe to any officer who catches _another_ officer taking a bribe.

incentivise the removal of corruption... this is just like pushing dirt elsewhere...

[recom273]

Great, first they establish the procedure, which is, you ask how much do you want? And now they are encouraged to entrap you for it.

So how will we go about paying when they stop you at a checkpoint? I need a new script.

I think the smartest is to keep quite and let the police do all the talking and see if he wants a fine with an official receipt or a bribe and try to record it with either your mobile phone or if you got a car cam you can turn to the policeman's direction.

I got an incident yesterday on helmet cam.

A young Thai guy was stood outside a police box at a junction, hands in pockets, back to the wall. The policeman just looking around.

It was so so obvious, the wife and I agreed he had been told to wait until we moved off before producing his 'fine'

I wish it was me that was getting the bonus for information leading to the discipline of the policeman.

[Emster23]

Guess this program proves you can have your cake and eat it too.

[Sphere]

I wonder if it will be the same motorcycle guy every time.

[madmitch]

The mere fact that this news article was published and this discussion is taking place says a lot about Thailand and its police.

[ebean001]

Let's look at this differently - the way I look at it. Thbere are many farangs in Thailand. We get stopped by the police and we are pretty much confused since there could be a language difference, etc. Ok, so we deserve to get the ticket but I am heading home from BKK to Chaing Mai. How do I pay the ticket? Even if I get a ticket in Chiang Mai how do I pay the ticket. This can be quite confusing to people. It is a good system to accept the ticket on the spot and then pay for it at that time. That is good. How the police will handle the cash mught be an issue but the alternative can be quite horrible.

[bikerider21]

Wish they would offer the same reward to citizens who report officers extorting bribes. Definitely could improve the median household income level in Thailand.

Citizens shouldn't need paying or are you one who does?

[brucetefl]

Here is my opinion...

MAKE PAYING THE FINE EASIER!

I drive a lot. and I am busy. If I get pulled over in Chantaburi the only way to pay that fine is to go to Chantaburi police station.

Waste of my time.

So bribing is just a lot easier.

[Toscano]

Money No Object Now !!! In a sense the BT10,000 not to bribe , is in itself a bribe !

Next we shall find police stopping cars or motorcycles fo some small reason , asking them for the customary 200/300bt fine and then claiming the motorist tried to bribe them .

I expect it was this adjustment to the law that prompted the policeman to stop the motorcyclist riding against oncoming traffic . Both motorcyclists and car drivers do it all the time

and highway police never do anything to stop them , or for that matter any other motoring transgressions , vehicles without lights or incorrect lights , motorcycles with 3/4 people on board ,

children riding motorcycles , an endless list .

Edited October 9, 2014 by Toscano

[toybits]

In fairness to all motorists, motorists who report Policemen seeking bribes SHOULD also be rewarded 10 K.

[krabimike]

Normally if I got a ticket for riding in the 3 rd line I would go in and pay 100 bht or give the officer 400 bht on the spot. The other day I got it for 3rd lane and had my car license on me and not motorbike. And had no cash. He increased the ticket to 1000 bht. So the next day after looking for the police station for 4 hours I went inside. Showed them that I had a motorbike license and the man said 100 bht. Then the man across the Isle said no it is 200 bht they argued. And then I said 200 is fine paid got my license and left. So they still play the game as far as they can. Personally handing the man 400 bht for breaking a rule that I know I am breaking is just fine with me.. pay the man and be on my way! The cost and the time of finding these places and then dealing with thier lack of organzation is exhausting to say the least! Let them write the ticket turn in the ticket and the cash.

[Sydebolle]

Calls for CCTVs in cars then and once you have em on tape (which takes less than you think) drive up to the police big wig to claim your reward; make sure the press accompanies you and you'll see how fast that will be brought to a screeching end ;-)

[misterphil]

Unfortunately, I can only see this as possibly being used to obtain larger bribes.

Yeah me too.

Officer can I give you 100 baht to let me go?

No, you're going to have to give me more than 10,000 cause I can get that for arresting you now.

[thhMan]

Why arent the Police being paid to just do their job and those that break the law simply dismissed.

Unfortunately, this is not sending a good message to the community... Corruption leads to recognition and rewards in the long run....

[jmccarty]

My experience, Bht 10,000 is about what they make in 30 minutes at some of the check points or traps or whatever they call them. And they do not give me an option of issuing a ticket for whatever reason they stop me. One stopped within the toll gate at Bangna heading toward Chonburi and asked me to move ahead about 5 meters, then pointed to my number plate that he wrote down as I was paying the toll, then he wrote down a number while I was watching him and pointed to his radio saying the speed camera said I was speeding. Well that must have been more than 10km before the toll booth if at all. The traffic leading up to the toll both was not moving faster than 60kmh for at least 10k.

That cop and 4 others were doing the same thing in the other lanes, took about 2 minutes to sort my payment out and he asked for bht 1,000, bht 500 was not enough when I offered that. I said, give me a ticket, I will get my office to sort it out and retrieve my license if need be. No, he wanted the bht 1,000 then and there.

[Guitar God]

So now it's going to cost me 11,000 baht?

[piersbeckett]

In my personal experience which, admittedly, is the experience of a foreigner, bribery is not the issue regarding Thai traffic cops; rather, corruption.

I guess only less police numbers, higher wages and more accountability would reduce the, as I see it, culture of corruption rooted in its cause, again as I see it, in lack of education seemingly rooted although I have read there are plans afoot, in the lack of political will to change things.

Edited October 9, 2014 by piersbeckett

[IAMSOBAD]

What if they are the ones taking your money for no good reason? Do we get 10,000 Baht for catching them?

This place is more crazy than CUCKOOS NEST.

[soalbundy]

Really ? i thought you got into trouble if you didn't bribe them

[canuckamuck]

This will really confuse the courtesy system where the police offer you the convenience of paying your fine upfront, for a slightly larger fee than going to the police station.

[jaywalker]

This really is an arse-about face of attempting to improve the integrity of Traffic Cops! What should be happening is integrity testing all the time by the police's discipline unit, i.e. going out where there are traffic cops doing stops, making themselves available for a traffic violation and seeing if they can get out of the ticket by offering a bribe. If they get a bite then that cop gets the sack - it soon smartens up the rest! I do though appreciate the other suggestion that it should be the public getting the 10,000 Baht for shopping a bent cop.

Yeah, but, but, but.....That cop likely had to bribe his way onto the force farce to begin with.

They'd be cutting off their hand to spite their face if they started sacking too many Barney Fife's.

Fast FWD the video to 1:40 seconds.

[fishhooks]

Gee, I must have woken up late this day.

We are only up to Page 4, I would have expected to have at least 10 pages here already, with lot's of "Smilies"

[IAMSOBAD]

I'm outta here! I can't take the inmates running the asylum.